Creating and Editing Expenses in LeanLaw

Expenses in LeanLaw represent costs that will be billed back to a client on an invoice. Before creating an expense, it's important to understand which type of expense it is — this determines where it should be entered.

Soft Costs vs. Hard Costs

Expense Type	What It Is & Where to Enter It
Soft Cost (enter in LeanLaw)	An overhead or pass-through cost you seek reimbursement for, but did not pay directly to a vendor. Examples: mileage, photocopies, administrative fees, filing fees paid by the firm. Create these directly in LeanLaw using the steps below.
Hard Cost (enter in QuickBooks Online)	An actual out-of-pocket payment made to a vendor on behalf of a client. Examples: expert witness fees, court reporter fees, medical records. These are entered as checks, bills, or credit card expenses in QuickBooks Online, then synced to LeanLaw for invoicing.

📋 Rule of thumb: If your firm paid a vendor directly, it's a hard cost — enter it in QuickBooks. If you're charging an overhead rate or pass-through fee without a vendor payment, it's a soft cost — enter it in LeanLaw.

Creating a Soft Cost Expense in LeanLaw

There are two ways to open the Add Expense form:

From the Expenses tab: Click Expenses in the top navigation, then click the green Create Expense button in the upper right.
From anywhere in LeanLaw: Hover over the + button in the upper right corner and click New Expense.

In the Add Expense window, fill in the required fields:

Field	Notes
Client	Select the client being billed for this expense. Type to search.
Matter	Select the matter this expense belongs to.
Description	A description of the expense as it will appear on the client's invoice. Use Snippets (short codes) to speed this up if set up — see: Text Snippets / Abbreviations.
Amount	The dollar amount to bill the client.
Date	The date the expense was incurred. Defaults to today.
Expense Type	Optional. Categorizes the expense for filtering and reporting. Maps to QuickBooks Online expense categories.
Billable	Checked by default. Uncheck to track the expense internally without billing the client.

Click Save to create the expense. Click Save and New to save and immediately open a fresh form for another expense.

💡 Tip: If you create this type of expense regularly, save it as a template to pre-fill the fields next time. See Article 2 in this collection for expense template setup.

LEDES Codes on Expenses

If the expense belongs to a LEDES-enabled matter, an Expense Code field will appear in the Add Expense form after selecting the matter. Select the appropriate LEDES expense code from the dropdown.

Editing an Expense

Go to the Expenses tab.
Find the expense using filters or the search bar.
Click the three vertical dots (⋮) on the right side of the expense row.
Select Edit from the dropdown menu.
Make your changes in the Edit Expense window.
Click Save to apply the changes.

Deleting an Expense

To delete an expense, open it for editing (three dots → Edit) and click the Delete button at the bottom of the Edit Expense window. Deletion is permanent — consider marking the expense as non-billable instead if you want to preserve the record.